[Thaumatology] The Astral Grimoire

[ajardoor]

I've been in love with Chapter 5: Paths and Books of Thaumatology for a while now, so I've worked on a concept for a Book. I have not decided on a title for the Book, or a complete backstory, but I have enough work to use it in a game, more or less.

===
This grimoire of rituals is, somehow, completely ordinary (aside for a faint aura of magic for those who can perceive such things) in the waking world of flesh and blood. The only real use of the physical Book is a touchstone for its astral signature, which holds ALL its useful secrets.

To access the lore and rituals within the Book, one must read the astral imprint of the physical object, by venturing into the local twilight realm of dreams, ghosts and spirits.

Typically, this requires an appropriate Ritual (typically, Dreamwalk or Astral Projection), or going to sleep with the Book in your hands and making a Dreaming skill roll (or even suffering from Nightmares), or possessing certain psionic powers, or an item that allows a similarly otherworldly journey. Once you have flung your senses into the astral, you can study the Book and its magic like it was any other Book, improving the skill and learning the Rituals.

The Astral Book contains eight different Rituals, listed below.
Dreamwalk; default -0, Thaumatology page 142
Astral Projection; default -3, Thaumatology page 159
Ghost Sword; default -5, Thaumatology page 161
Exorcise; default -5, Thaumatology page 161
Dream Sanctum; default -6, Thaumatology page 142
Dream Visitor; default -2, Thaumatology page 142
Cloud Memory; default -7, Thaumatology page 140
Read Thoughts; default -7, Thaumatology page 152

[sir_pudding]

The example books have unique rituals. When I used the system in a game I made sure all the books (14 by the end of the campaign) had at least one.